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kirwaninstitute.org

Understanding Implicit What Is Implicit Bias

the Nation, Professor Drew Westen tells us that “Irre- spective of what we may feel and believe consciously, most White Americans—including many who hold consciously progressive values and attitudes—harbor negative associations toward people of color.” Implicit bias affects the way that we think about “out groups” and it influences the way that we react to and interact with out group members. Implicit bias operates in what researchers call our “implicit mind,” the part of the brain that we commonly call the “subconscious” or Implicit bias is a mental process that stimulates nega- the “unconscious.” This means that implicit bias can tive attitudes about people who are not members of operate in an individual’s mind without a conscious one’s own “in group.” Implicit racial bias leads to awareness of this process. Westen suggests that, typi- against people who are not members cally, our subconscious attitudes are less egalitarian of one’s own racial group. In his book, The Political than our conscious attitudes. Brain: The Role of in Deciding the Fate of

Implicit racial bias is a very complex mental process

Many researchers believe that implicit racial bias is a response to direct and indirect negative informa- tion that an individual receives starting in childhood. For example, consider a White adult who has had little or no interaction with . Starting in childhood, this may be bombarded with distorted negative images of African Americans on television and and beyond our control. Others believe that in the and negative comments about people of we may be aware of these attitudes but are reluctant to color from family members and other people who are openly acknowledge them because they conflict with respected by the individual. This input can lead to un- social norms and egalitarian values that are important to founded negative attitudes about African Americans. us. A third group of researchers urge that most people As an emerging field, there is not per- are aware that they have some degree of prejudiced and fect agreement on the question of the precise process by stereotypical thinking, but are unaware of the power- which unintentionally shape people’s beliefs ful influence those negative associations have on their about and behaviors towards others. Many researchers behavior. More work is needed to resolve these disagree- and scholars believe that implicit bias leads to uncon- ments in order to formulate strategies best able to fight scious negative attitudes that reside outside our normal against implicit bias. Why should we care about implicit bias?

We must care because this phenomenon has the Implicit racial bias can lead to devastating, sometimes power to influence policies and conditions in the real fatal, consequences. world, to distort the opportunity that all Americans Research suggests that negative racial associa- must have to achieve success. For example, an elemen- tions can lead people to see danger or a weapon where tary school teacher may say—and explicitly believe—that none exists. “Shooter studies” have documented that she has equal expectations for all of her students, while race affects the decision making of subjects asked to in , implicit racial bias lowers her expectations for make split-second decisions about whether to discharge students of color, stimulates subtle differences in the way a weapon in self-protection. This research has estab- she behaves toward these students and lowers the aca- lished that many people stereotypically associate African demic performance of these students. Americans with violence and weapons, causing them in In the criminal system, implicit racial simulations to “fire” guns more often when presented bias can negatively influence decisions made by judges. with images of unarmed black , and less often For example, research on capital punishment shows that when facing images of armed white persons. The Febru- killers of White victims are more likely to be sentenced ary 26, 2012 fatal shooting in Florida of Trayvon Martin, to death than are killers of Black victims and that Black an unarmed African American teenager, highlights the defendants are more likely than White defendants to importance of deepening our understanding of implicit receive the death penalty (R. Richard Banks, et al., bias effects. “Discrimination and Implicit Bias in a Racially Unequal Implicit racial bias can also influence many of the Society,” 94 CAL. L. REV. 1169, 1175: 2006). Other most important decisions we make in our personal, pro- research shows that defendants with more afro-centric fessional, and social lives: where we live, where we work, facial features are given longer sentences than defendants who our children’s friends are, who our friends are, which with fewer afro-centric features. (William T. Pizzi, Irene political candidates we vote for, what social programs we V. Blair and Charles M. Judd. “Discrimination in Sen- support, etc. For most Americans all of these issues are tencing on the Basis of Afrocentric Features.” Michigan influenced by racial attitudes. Implicit bias distorts these Journal of Race & , Vol. 10, 2005). attitudes and limits the opportunity that each of us has to live a fully engaged life.

At the Kirwan Institute our work on structural racialization has shown us that the systematic processes which create and perpetuate racial inequality most often operate without racist intent. We know that racialized outcomes do not require racist actors. However, we are becoming increasingly aware that the ways in which individuals think about, talk about and act on race do have significant implications for social justice and access to opportunity. Through our emerging research on implicit bias we know that atti- tudes about race do influence our position on critical issues involving race—issues like affordable housing, , school integration, and even the size and role of . As we strive to create a just and inclusive society where all people and communities have opportunity to succeed we are work- ing to expand the understanding of implicit bias, to expose the many ways that this phenomenon creates and reinforces racialized barriers to opportunity in critical life domains and to conceive of and implement interventions that have the power to reduce the influence of implicit bias in the real world. 33 W. 11th Avenue Sharon Davies, Executive Director Columbus, OH 43210 Jason Reece, Research Director (614) 688-5429 Christy Rogers, Outreach Director